So, we have you finally workin’ on your fitness. You have decided to make a change. You start eating right, working out, and paying attention to your physical well being. Awesome! Congratulations! I promise you this is a decision you won’t regret. I want to talk to you specifically about the working out part today. I see a lot of things go on, while I am with my personal training clients, or with my fitness campers, or in the gym in general. These things are both good and bad. Yes, you are on the right track, getting in your workout, spending time in the gym or in group exercise classes. But the thing I see in adults, when they take on these things, is that they lose that drive from competition. I will take my fitness camp for an example. Now, the people in fitness camp work hard, there is NO doubt about that. But what I see, when we partner up, or we do team races, is that some people “cheat”, or slack off. Let’s say you are doing partner leg throws. Now, your partner doesn’t want to make you mad, so they only throw your legs at a moderate level. If this were me, I’d beg for a little more effort. Either they are afraid when it’s their turn, you are going to throw their legs with too much force, or they don’t want to hurt you. I think both are cop out excuses. You are there for a reason. To get a benefit out of this workout. By doing this, you are cheating both yourself, and your partner. Aren’t you there to put forth a maximum effort, and to get results from this whole fitness thing? If you just go through the motions, what reward will you get? A garbage one. If you try your hardest every workout, those gains are going to come that much quicker, and you will be even MORE thrilled that you decided to take this journey! The same can be said in the gym. If you push yourself, get a few more reps in with the weights, go another mile on that treadmill, you will REAP the rewards and benefits. Your body is an amazing machine, and you need to realize just what potential it holds. Don’t go for “good enough”. Go for “amazing”!
Archive for the ‘Las Vegas Personal Trainer’ Category
The Fitness Game- Don’t Cheat
Saturday, May 8th, 2010
Your Fitness. What is it Worth?
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010There are plenty of fitness infomercials on tv right now. I can flip through the channels at any given time and see commercials for the newest craze. A weight you just “shake”. A program promising amazing results in 90 days. Another fitness program claiming you’d have to be “insane” to not do it. Obviously, a lot of these advertisements work, so it tells me one thing. People do care about their health. The fact that people are buying these products says they do want to put in some effort, even if these are the “quick fixes”. Once the product is purchased, who really knows how much use one will get out of it. But that brings up another question in my mind. How much is your fitness worth to you? I don’t know that you could put a monetary value on it, but let’s just look at it a couple different ways. Living in Las Vegas, the nightclub scene is tops. There are places that charge $22 for one drink! And guess what. People buy them. Now, normally, you don’t have just one drink, so let’s say you have three. With a tip, we can say that’s about $75 right? No big deal, you were out drinking. Now let’s turn this into fitness and exercise. One, you just spent some money on things that are taking you away from your fitness goals, and two, that money could have been spent on something taking you towards those very same goals. So now, is it not worth it to pay the extra few dollars to buy organic? Is three drinks really worth one personal training session? I’m going to end this here, but take a look at your goals, and figure out what is worth what to you.
Las Vegas Personal Training- Your Goals.
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010Las Vegas and the rest of the country, ask yourself this question. Are you where you want to be right now? It’s April, and the months are warming up. Is this where you expected your fitness level to be at, right now? Have you lost that bodyfat that you planned on doing in January? What have your workouts been like? Are you following your nutrition the way you had planned? Ok. That’s about 15 questions, not one. Who’s counting though? Anyway. If you are exactly where you planned to be, good job! It takes a lot of dedication and determination to reach the fitness and exercise goals some people come up with. You are prime examples of what you can do when you put the knowledge and desire to work for yourself. Keep doing what you are doing. For those of you, who still think you have some work to do, you still have time. You can decide, today, that you are going to start changing things. The way you eat. What your workout is like. Little things, like deciding to eat at least two solid vegetables today, is a huge start. Might not seem like much, but it sets the wheels in motion. Deciding to go to the gym today. That is another great start. Why keep waiting, when your results are waiting for you to go get them? Just wanted to give you guys some things to think about. Just spend five minutes, mapping out how you can get to those fitness goals you have, or any goals for that matter. Ask yourself why you haven’t reached them, and how you can change the things you do to get to them. Have a great day folks!
Las Vegas Personal Training- Eat For Your Workout
Saturday, April 10th, 2010Las Vegas, and well, all other areas for that matter, is a little clueless when it comes time to choose what to eat while you are getting your fitness on. Everyone knows they need protein, but how much is too much? When do you need to have it? Should I have whey, or soy, or other sources? (Don’t let your dirty minds get a hold of you here.). Well, the answer to those questions, is YES. Doesn’t seem like a good enough answer to you? That’s ok for this personal trainer. Let’s just look at it this way. We know protein helps build muscle. Without it, we wouldn’t have a six pack, or biceps or legs for that matter. So for the general public, getting a few servings a day of different lean sources would be beneficial. And why not get a variety of sources. Have some fish here, some chicken there, a protein shake up high, and you are on track to making some major body changes. But if you couple that protein, with some good carbohydrates, and some quality fat, yes, you heard me, fat, we are on our way to a sexy, muscular MACHINE. Your body will not work over time with just protein. You need a combo of fats, proteins and carbohydrates to get functioning properly. So, after your workout, have some sort of combo like, believe it or not, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It has protein in the peanut butter, great fats in the peanut butter as well, and some quick carbs in the bread and jelly. All of which you need right after the workout. So take that tip and run with it. Don’t over indulge on those sandwiches though. Limit yourself to a few a week. Keep up with the complex carbs from veggies, lean protein from chicken, fish, and eggs, and get your fats from sources like olive oil and nut butters. This has been a public service announcement from your friends at Tony Cress Personal Training:)
Las Vegas Personal Training- Six Pack Fitness
Sunday, March 28th, 2010Las Vegas, and the surrounding areas of the United States, Happy Sunday from your 3rd favorite personal trainer. Just checking in on you guys. While everyone else is out at the pools today here, I am writing a fitness blog, and hosting my parents for a visit because my brother had a baby on Wednesday. Welcome to this world Aries Cress! He’s already got a six pack! Well, maybe not, but he definitely flexes his muscles all the time. Just updating you all on the happenings in the lives of my family. Anyway, we have got to get back on the exercise train. What have you done this week? how have your workouts been? Are you following your nutrition and diet plan? What have you done today to reach your fitness goals? Sometimes we all need this reminder to get ourselves back on track. So, here is your reminder. If you haven’t had a workout this whole week, I’m going to give you one right now. Start small. Get back into the groove. Do 200 jumping jacks, 50 pushups, 50 squat jumps, and 50 mountain climbers. Try to finish this in 10 minutes. It’ll do you wonders, and help you realize you are back in the game. Have a great day.
Warm Weather Workouts- Las Vegas Personal Training
Saturday, March 20th, 2010It’s getting warm here in Las Vegas! This means I’m going to start taking my personal training clients outside soon. For all of you who want to get some workouts done outdoors, I have a few tips for you. When you are working out outside, you have to remember to hydrate. Sometimes we don’t realize how hard we are actually working out when we leave the gym, and you DO lose a lot of water being outside. Ever seen people at the pool who aren’t even doing much but they get carted off in an ambulance because of dehydration? Yeah. Ok, next step. Wear layers. You’ll find out at first, you’ll think it’s too cold, then all of a sudden you be dripping sweat. Be prepared to get naked:). Another thing, if you want variety, go to a park. You’ll find playground equipment, benches, and some parks even have workout challenges posted around the park. This gives you tons of options to play around with. And lastly, run fast. When you are outside, go all out. Have fun, be a kid again and get dirty!
Las Vegas Personal Training- Pool Ready Bodies pt. 2
Monday, March 15th, 2010Yo Yo Vegas! What’s up playas! I hear that all the time personal training. I don’t take a client unless they talk like that. Really. No, seriously. Ok. I probably don’t want to train you if i have to spend somewhere around an hour hearing you talk like that. But anyway, let’s get down to business. Last part of this blog, I was talking about how you can gain muscle to look good for the pools. Today, I’m going to talk quickly about how you can lose the last lbs. of body fat , and show of the muscles you gained in that six pack. Well first off, I am going to tell you this. If you can’t see a six pack, and you want to, it’s your diet. Yup. You think you eat really healthy, whole wheat this and low carb that, and sugar free this. That’s not really the healthiest you could be eating. How about all natural this, and you are hearing it here first kids, fruits and veggies? Yup. The nutrients in fruits and veggies are going to help you get cut. As long as you are getting your muscle building protein, those fruits and vegetables are some of your best friends. Even though you probably don’t eat your other best friends, but hey, it’s 2010. I don’t know. Along with what you are eating, you might want to see what kind of workouts you are doing? Are you doing 45 minutes on the treadmill every day? No? Good, because that isn’t gonna be what the doctor orders here. Get crazy with some dumbells, learn how to do plyometrics under a personal trainer who has experience with them, and start doing interval training. If you don’t know what any of those are, stop working out. Just kidding. Some of them are pretty easy to learn. For example, interval training is when you do a very intense burst of exercise, say for 15-30 seconds, followed by a “rest” period of say 1-2 minutes, then you repeat for anywhere from 10-25 minutes. You can do this exercise on a bike, elliptical, jump rope, treadmill, etc. So, if you want to get the next part of the pool ready body going, you want to look into these things. Got it Jersey Shore?
Las Vegas Personal Training- Pool Ready Bodies pt. 1
Friday, March 12th, 2010Las Vegas has a bunch of meatheads in it. Simply put. Personal training, I don’t run into this often, but when I go to the gym, I definitely do. 75% of guys in the gym are there to do one thing. That thing is building muscle. Peoples workouts are based on what’s the best for building size in their pecs, or what will make their six pack show, or how to get bigger arms. And i am not in the minority. I want to have bigger muscles, and I want to look better at the pool. That’s what it’s all about right? Las Vegas is gearing up for pool season, and guess who’s busy trying to pack muscle on to a few smaller frames? ME. That’s who. And to the people who are personal training with me, rest assured, you’ll be happy with the results you get. The people who aren’t, I do have some advice for you. Although you do want to gain muscle, and look good for the pool, don’t count on your bicep curls to get you there. Incorporate exercises that involve your whole body. What’s the point of spending two hours in the gym, and isolating every muscle you can. Let’s work out calves for an hour. What sense does that make? I’m gonna do 15 different types of bicep curls. Really? Why? Why would you do that? What if you did a pushup with a squat thrust? How many more muscles are involved in just that? This is way more efficient than your bodypart split. And since you are activating more than one muscle at a time, you’ll get multiple the benefit.
Now, this isn’t the only aspect you need to gain muscle. If you are not getting enough energy in to fuel that muscle growth, your muscles won’t grow. EAT. Eat food. Lots of it. If you are working hard, you have to get extra calories. I still know people who only eat once a day. No matter what your goal is, THAT isn’t gonna help you. Obviously you need some protein to fuel muscle growth, but without carbs and fat, that protein will be useless. So get a good balance, work out using multiple muscle groups, and get some good sleep. Those will help you look great for the pool.
Working Out In Vegas!
Friday, March 5th, 2010Working Out in Vegas! As opposed to waking up in Vegas. Thanks Katy Perry. Anyway. What are you little fitness maniacs up to today? I have just been busy as all hell with my personal training, and the show American Storm. My first Las Vegas billboard went up today for my training, and not surprisingly, it’s a picture of my six pack with my website. Pretty simple right? Funny thing is, it’s located right on top of the parking lot in the casino where the Chippendales perform. Call me guys, I can help! Just playing just playing. Those guys work out hard. I see a few of them at the gym, when I get a chance to make it there. That’s the problem being so busy. Well, its not really a problem, because you can make your workout a priority, and luckily for me, I can work on my abs right in my backyard. You can too. Everyone can. There are tons of pieces of makeshift gym equipment. See that tree over there? That’s your pullup bar. See that knocked down telephone pole? Deadlifts.. How about that bench in the park? Step ups, dips, box jumps and decline pushups. You get the idea. There is exercise equipment all around us. You just need to look at things in a different way. What may have been meant for office use, could very well be meant for your shoulder development. Open up your minds to the possibilities of everything you see around you, and you’ll find you do, in fact, have time to work out.
Las Vegas Workout- Our 6 Week Challenge
Sunday, February 28th, 2010Hello from Las Vegas, my workout friends! Your personal trainer, Tony Cress, back again with some new news for your fitness fix. My partner in exercise crime, Emily Bussey, and I, have decided to take a workout challenge against each other. This may finally get my butt in gear, to reach my own fitness goals. I am going to have to work on my own nutrition, and figure out how to do all this with a bum neck and shoulder right now, as I’m pretty sure I may need some physical therapy. Anyway, we have six weeks to take on this challenge against each other, and there are benefits and consequences for the winner and the loser or the workout challenge. If you would like to see all the details, you can check it out on my youtube channel, and I will try to post that link right here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkWf1tSEO58
